Anticipating (Not Hoping for) Greatness

As we stand three days from the new year, I've heard countless people in person and on social media talking about their New Years Resolutions. There are always the cliche ones--losing weight, exercising more, getting organized, quitting smoking, controlling anger, slowing down to enjoy life. Those are all great things, and if that's your goal, please understand, I encourage you to follow them.

However...let's be real for just a moment, how often do we actually commit to completing these resolutions? We start January and February as die-hards. Renewing gym memberships, making some strange green vegetable smoothies in the morning, purchasing multi-colored folders, desk drawer caddies, and various stick notes for labeling. We are dead set on the idea that by taking these steps, we will be able to live a more productive and therefore fulfilling lives.

Then March, April, and May comes along, and we've cut corners slightly. Instead of four days a week exercising, we turn to once or twice a week. Our smoothies switch from all vegetables to strawberry-banana smoothies, and the contents of our color coordinated folders have been shuffled and mangled.

It only gets more relaxed in June through September. The new school/work year starts, and we are more crunched for time. Our gym card is merely a decoration hanging on our keys, our breakfast kale smoothies, have been replaced with a cup of highly concentrated, sugared coffee, and a chocolate pop-tart...followed by the lunch of a Hot Pocket, or leftover Chinese Food. Those sticky notes are all wadded up in the bottomless pit of your backpack. Your desk has become a convenient storage facility to lay clothes that you are probably going to wear again, around people you haven't seen the previous day. (Thank God for block schedules) Man...sounds just like college.

We should probably skip talking about the last few months of the year all together, because that's when we are allowed to make up numerous excuses about 'having too many sweets in the house,' being stressed about having family over,' and 'just looking forward to a fresh new start.' If you've never thought or said any of these, you're a liar, and you can quit reading now.

So you might be wondering...why do we set these goals, knowing that we aren't going to reach them? How come we place so much effort into accomplishing something, when we never really will? Well...there's the sociological answer explaining Erving Goffman's 1959 Theory of 'Dramaturgy,' and the fact that we are always performing for other people, but I believe there is so much more to this constructed dilemma. Besides, I only had a semester of Sociology, so I'm by no means an expert. I've thought extensively about this though. Are we only making goals with the intention of impressing others? Are they only because people expect us to change who we are to make us 'better' people?

Maybe the reasons that we are rarely ever capable of completing our annual resolutions, is because our head and our hearts are in the wrong place when we are making them. We are allowing others to influence us more than that of our own innate intellect. Our decisions aren't our own, they are the product of what other people have told us we should be. "...and in today's culture, that perspective is extremely relevant, viral, and holds more weight versus twenty years ago." (Sancho 110) Now, more than ever, people's identities are being shaped by the factors, and variables in which they are exposed to, eliminating their uniqueness and individuality.

The mindset we place ourselves in should be one where we want to see past the surface level improvements, and shoot for meaningful life alterations that won't just make us 'better' or live 'happier' lives, but rather one that we will knowingly be proud to accomplish. Acknowledging deep down that you solely made the choice to change something about the way you are living.

Maybe, if you choose to make a resolution for the new year in the next couple weeks, make one which you know is something that only you decided. Make it difficult, yet still achievable, and adventurous yet still obtainable. All through this have the mindset that you will make it happen, not just assuming that it will happen. Have someone keep you accountable with it, (even when it isn't easy) write it down, and remind yourself that you are doing this for yourself, not because of someone else. So as you go forth into this next year, I hope you that you will anticipate, not just hope for greatness in all aspects of your life.

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

-Nick